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Abstract
Introduction Survival following out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is less than 10% in England. Although early defibrillation with an automated external defibrillator (AED) can more than double survival rates, they are used in just 2.4% of witnessed OHCAs in the UK. Increased usage has the potential to save lives. This study investigated the awareness amongst university campus users of the location and purpose of AEDs and explored their reported willingness and confidence to use one in OHCA.
Methods A cross-sectional intercept interview study was conducted using a questionnaire administered to members of the public, staff and students at eight locations across the Newcastle University campus during May to July 2022 using convenience sampling. Informed consent from participants and University ethical approval were obtained, and demographic data were collected. An image was used to establish whether participants could identify an AED (Figure 1), and binary responses on willingness to obtain and use an AED were reported as proportions and compared with Chi-square. Self-reported confidence of use was reported on a scale of 1-10, and summarised using median (IQR) comparing those who had and had not received first aid training; comparisons were made using Mann-Whitney. Barriers to using an AED were reported as free-text responses, and analysed thematically.
Results 170 interviews were completed (31 university staff [18.2%], 54 students [31.8%] and 85 members of the public [50.0%]). 58 (34.1%) had never received first aid training.
Overall, 149 (87.6%) were able to identify an AED, and 142 (83.5%) correctly described their function (Table 1). 150 participants (88.2%) reported they would be willing to retrieve an AED in an emergency, and 136 (80.0%) were willing to use one. However, just 65 (31.2%) reported that they knew how to use an AED. The median confidence rating for using an AED, across all respondents, was 6/10 (interquartile range 4/10 to 7/10) and tended to be higher amongst those that had received first aid training than those that had not (medians: 7/10 vs 3.5/10, P=0.003). The most common barriers to using AEDs were lack of knowledge and training, and fear of causing harm (Figure 2).
Conclusion Participants were generally aware of the purpose of an AED and tended to be willing to retrieve and use one. However, they reported limited knowledge of how to access and use an AED, and lack of confidence in doing so. The reported barriers suggest that these issues are likely to be amenable to educational strategies, which is reinforced by our finding that first aid training was associated with increased reported confidence to retrieve and use an AED.
OHCA is a time-critical emergency; and increases in population willingness and confidence to use an AED has the potential to save lives.
Reported ability to identify, describe, and use an automated external defibrillator by staff, student, and public groupings
Standard automated external defibrillator (AED) sign (left) and poster (right). (source: https://www.resus.org.uk/library/additional-guidance/guidance-defibrillators/guidance-standard-sign)
Response frequencies of the reasons given for unwillingness to use an automated external defibrillator (AED), n=34.
Conflict of Interest None